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Modified Sprint Speciale’s part two

So many of you enjoyed the last rerun about modified SS’s that I thought I’d rerun this one.

Originally posted July 16, 2008: The last modified Sprint Speciale’s installment highlighted some fairly successful modifications, mostly done in the youth of the featured cars. This car glared at me from the same file directory I used to store the other pictures but I just couldn’t work it in. It would have been like accidentally finding reverse while speeding down the highway.

I know, you’re looking at the picture thinking ‘that’s an SS??… NO WAY’. Look closer, you know it’s true. My first impression was someone built an interpretation of something from Bubblegum Crisis or another cyberpunk Anime, but without the ability to fly.

Not an altogether unsightly proposition if it was based on a 70’s Spider -which is where the nose appears to have come from, but in my opinion an abberation as a Franken-SS unless based on a horribly smashed SS that would have been recycled if not for this.

I am at a loss for words, this thing is really busy. I like the wheels though. Junior Zagato/67 Berlina tail lamps? Trimmed Spider bumper? Spider rear panel?

Okay, in the pictures above there is a lot to take in. Looking at the nose I see a Spider nose with a raised center section as if there were a blower or something under the hood. The nostrils beside the raised section and the corresponding exits in front of the windshield don’t appear to have a purpose other than to balance the design. The grill heart looks like a Duetto item as do the headlight covers.

The back of the car seems to have been influenced by the high center idea of the TZ but with elements from a Junior Z or even a Lamborghini Espada with its lift-gate window but it seems to have lost its way in the business of the details. Had the tail light panel been placed about 8 inches lower and the lot forced to taper down to meet it the over-all design might be a bit more successful. As it sits now it suffers from the too-high rear end treatment that most new cars suffer from. Tail lights appear to be Junior Z items. Bumpers are likely to have come from a Spider, though trimmed in the middle.

What can be seen of the gauges appears to be Giulia series SS, but the diameters look a little too big, Spider parts? Seats look like SS items, window winders are late 60’s 105 items. Without better interior pictures it’s all guesswork.

Check out the fuel filler placement. I’ve looked at this picture perhaps 10 times and never noticed the little access cave in the rear panel until now. There appears to be an IED in the trunk or is that a bass bazooka duct taped to a battery??

The engine compartment is actually fairly well done. The intake manifold appears to be a 750 Veloce item with water pipe. Brake booster suggests hanging pedal conversion.

There are elements from a lot of Alfa engine compartments at play here. Overflow bottle, fuel filter and brake booster appear to be 105/115 GTV items. Valve cover bolts indicate probably a 1600 or 1750. Firewall seems to have been significantly altered, perhaps a Spider firewall hides in there, making the hanging pedal conversion possible. Throttle linkage and voltage regulator are stock SS items attached to the new firewall. I’m a little worried about running the wiring harness across the top of the Webers, seems a little irresponsible.

Regardless of the diverse origins of the components as long as everything is set up to work together it probably goes, stops and handles pretty good. How would I feel about driving it around? It might be fun to show up at the Concorso Italiano with this thing dressed up like a Miami coke dealer with a floozy blond escort with big fake boobs on your arm, or Engineer nerd style with taped glasses, sweat rings puffing constantly from an inhaler. I guess seeing it in person would be the thing to do, maybe it has its charm like a VW based Sterling kit car. I’ve seen stuff like this over the years on eBay, though usually VW or Fiero based, where someone followed their dream and created their one-off custom masterpiece only to find out upon trying to sell it that something is wrong with the rest of the world because they just don’t appreciate the makers styling genius and fabrication talent. There ought to be a museum, a sort of Island of Dr. Moreau for cars where this would no doubt be a star.

For my usual optimistic evaluation I would say depending on how much of the SS is left and how much it could be bought for it may be a good car to make a period modified SS from like the Swedish car in he last installment. If SS’s regularly fetch $100k at some point it may even become viable as a restoration candidate.

Come on Matt, your in Hawaii, I was hoping to see the Alfa Serpent’s tongue carved in the island sand designed with seaweed and starfish bits. Or at least a sand castle. Remember, your never to old to play in the sand.

This car has a nice execution but some of the styling is way over done. A bit of TZ/3000CM,and who knows what else has been tossed in. The quality is above average that is for sure looking at the way the car has been put together. Truly, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.